What has Hua Hin come to?

[2dandan]

Procyon,

Tell me one large town or city which doesn't have the qualities you describe.

Could you also tell me about the "shooting" as I appear to have missed that.

Thanks

[SuperTonic]

[Procyon]

I have no "gripe" only observations - I deal with the more savory business people in Hua Hin and am friends with many of them - as said many times before I'm just airing observations on this board from stories they tell me about what happens here. Its a shame so many members here want to rip me apart for it thinking I have some kind of agenda - just observations people, stop being so aggressive.

This town didnt have what I described a few years ago - now it does.

There have been two shootings between falangs in Hua Hin in the last year or so that I'm, aware of - one was fatal the other wasnt. A simple search of this forum will show something:
http://www.huahinafterdark.com/forum/fatal-shooting-hh-t6328.html

Yes, Bintabaht attracts drunken tourists, this is not what I'm discussing.

And yes I guess it "serves me right" again.

[Wanderlust]

Procyon,
The reaction to your thread is understandable to some extent, but it is also important to stress that the nasty incidents you hear about are not the tip of the iceberg, but pretty much the whole iceberg, and as such Hua Hin remains as both a nice, and safe place to live, where the chances of you having to deal with any unsavoury types is low even if you do regularly frequent the bar areas! As others have already done, when you compare HH to many other places in the world, it really is a great place to live, and while I would like to frighten others away with horrifying reports of bad things so it remains the same, it just isn't true for the vast majority of people who live here. Yes, there will be more scumbags that appear because they have either 'done' Pattaya/Phuket/Samui or they feel there is an opportunity to rip people off, but they will still be in the very small minority, and obviously this forum is a chance to relate tales of woe with such people as a needed warning; however, very few people will bother to post their tales of satisfaction and happiness unfortunately. Good news isn't worth sharing, or so we seem to think.

[sargeant]

Reminiscing with a friend the other day about running home from school throwing of the school clothes grabbing rod and reel and pushbike to the Thames in oxford and sitting for hours by the river fishing but many times just taking pleasure in the otters ,kingfishers ,dragonflies and butterflies .
There aren’t any otters or kingfishers, dragonflies or butterflies any more on the Thames progress has got rid of them just about

That’s what has happened to Hua Hin in 4/5 years all that’s left are mosquitoes (bloodsuckers ) and cockroaches how that is progress is beyond me but it will be the word used to slime people who know progress really means profit and greed
To those who were here 9 years ago maybe only 6 this lovely fishing village has been ruined. To those coming tomorrow it is paradise because they will never have seen the otters, kingfishers, dragonflies and butterflies and probably unfortunately don’t have the imagination to understand what has been lost or what I am saying
I am very fortunate for I have seen the otters and kingfishers dragonflies and butterflies that is my only profit from Hua Hin and I am not greedy I just wish my son and his son could have seen them and everybody else’s kids too it is them that have been robbed by the greedy

Finally procyon I agree wholeheartedly with your observations. here is one for you almost all of the posters saying how great it is are either in business, making business or trying to get into business and most have only been here 4/5 years and trust me 6/7/8/9/10 years ago there were no incidents at all that we now are FORCED to accept as progress odd aint it
Now watch the crap come down on this post
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A Greatfull Guest of Thailand

[dtaai-maai]

[redzonerocker]

nice to see you back sarge, hope alls well
no crap coming down from me. i totally agree with you
progress is inevitable but not always the best solution for everyone. i am only a recent visitor to hua hin but having travelled to some of the unspoilt, less touristic spots around thailand, i can identify with what you are saying.
unfortunately & eventually, the progress brings with it all the negatives.
it is disappointing when you escape the shackles of western ways only for them to follow you to your little bit of paradise
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when all are one & one is all, to be a rock & not to roll.

[Randy Cornhole]

I must admit that I personally have seen Hua Hin grow a little too fast and find it becoming a bit too touristy for me. I haven't been into town for 10 months now and can't see that changing. I have been spending some time just outside Surin in a place called Sanom, and intend to build up there next year and grow old peacefully. This is course just a personal view and a personal choice....
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[buksida]

[sargeant]

sorry dtai mai the wildlife was rhetorical it was to emphasize that Hua Hin WAS a Small sleepy fishing village not in anyones wildest dreams could it be called that now
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A Greatfull Guest of Thailand

[sargeant]

Sorry RNR no things aint sweet i am a bit like Hua Hin maybe thats why it dragged me out of hibernation but as i said to my mate i would just like to feel good again but it is so long since i did feel 100% i have forgotten what it feels like i suppose going downhill to some is progress in which case i am full speed ahead
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A Greatfull Guest of Thailand

[Wanderlust]

Very few, if any, places stay the same forever (unless enforced by some government order) and although I, too, lament the idea that 'progress' and 'growth' inevitably spoil a place, it is the price paid to have things like telephones, electricity and clean water, to name a few. The changes to Hua Hin in particular are not as a result of farangs or any one group, but I do agree it is a result of the pursuit of money; for an individual trying to earn a crust to support their family there isn't too much wrong with that, but multiply it and add in local/national government and large companies who are only interested in the money and don't have a purpose for it other than making more money (and paying their employees/shareholders) then you always get a problem. However, who are we to tell the Thais how to run their affairs? They are only copying what the western world has been doing for centuries anyway.

One final point is that everything is relative; to some poor folk up country Hua Hin will be a marvel to behold and the place they dream of living; to some folk jaded by the Western country they live in it is an escape, whether temporarily or permanently; to some who live here now it's apparently becoming a nightmare living here. I feel lucky to be able to live here, and to have a choice that many do not; I am not in a position to affect any changes, to revert things to how they were, but even if I were, to do so might make some others lives worse.

The grass is always greener and there ain't no pleasing some!

[JD]

Sorry Sarge,
Only in the minds of the true, original, Hua Hin citizens can it have ever been called a sleepy fishing village.

I know people who are now grandparents, that were born and bred in Hua Hin, who would laugh at your comments.

Hua Hin hasn't been in that classification since before the Royal Family came to stay. If you think that from the date of your arrival in Hua Hin, that, that was the same it has always been, you are sadly, only believing with your own eyes. I promise you, ten years before the right 'un-royal you' descended on this great little town, it was as different then as it is you now. Times change and people move on.

I do take umbrage at your comment about business people in the town. Most of us follow to the letter of the law what we are supposed to follow. We pay a much improved salary and benefits than the locals would of received from their 'fishing employers' before. Progress is progress. I will admit, not always for the good. But your slander on the business element in the town, taints the goods ones with the same brush. Some of us care about being ethical.

Some of us get involved in local issues that affect every citizen of Hua Hin, some of us 'dare' to raise our voice at local issues, both farang and Thai, some of us help instigate committees to deal with the ever growing problems that Hua Hin faces, both now and in the future, and sometimes, just occasionally, them with the power, listen to us. Don't just sit there, bemoaning what used to be, stand up, stop, and look around you, this town will be at the forefront of how a farang and Thai community should live together, in spite of your comments and thoughts. For some of us it is important that the Thai influence is maintained, along with a level playing field for those of us that have invested here, to help enable us to continue in an ethical and controlled business environment.

I certainly don't listen to the doubters anymore. It pisses me right off when load mouths just want to tell everyone how bad it is now, they just want to tell people why they shouldn't invest in Thailand, or bemoan the Thai attitude to life.

You say you are a guest of Thailand, well, as a guest, who has retired here, I suggest you show your manners, and stop showing your ignorance of matters you have no experience of.

I remember everything you have said about the countryside, I promise you, there aren't many can tell you what it's like to be a summer walker. But I realised at a young age that the fight isn't about change, it's about preserving a heritage, and encompassing the change that future generations and outside thoughts bring.
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Per Angusta In Augusta.
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[sargeant]

JD a nice post you wont mind then if i take umbrage at your you abide by the letter of the law comment to me the law is simple section 4 land act thailand no falangs can own land that just leaves the vast sprawl of ever increasing bungalows way outside the price range of most thais as i said those in business see it as progress i dont they look at it as gain i see the loss as for 9 years ago you have no idea what it was like now do you i do i WAS here and i dont know you from adam and 9 years ago you could have got all of us living here in one bar for a pissup now you would need wembly it is perceptions mine started long before you got here i have been coming to thailand with a thai wife free flights for 24 years
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A Greatfull Guest of Thailand

[sargeant]

Sorry missed a point in my post i said for those coming tommorrow it will still be paradise as i say it is perceptions
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